Colombian Spanish · for advanced learners
Spanish that sounds like Colombia, not a textbook
You're past the basics. Now every sentence you write is graded against how it would be said in Bogotá or Medellín — ¿quiubo?, bacano, con mucho gusto — with the local version shown next to yours.
Free plan · 10 graded sentences a day · No credit card, no install
What Colombian Spanish actually sounds like
Colombians are famously polite and famously specific. Textbook Spanish sounds stiff to them; these are some of the differences the grader listens for.
| You want to say | Textbook Spanish | How it's said in Colombian Spanish |
|---|---|---|
| What's up? | ¿Cómo estás? | ¿Quiubo? / ¿Bien o qué? |
| That's awesome | Es genial | Qué bacano / qué chévere |
| Dude, buddy | Amigo | Parce short for parcero |
| Could I get a coffee? | ¿Me da un café? | ¿Me regala un tinto? regalar means "sell me" here, and tinto is black coffee |
| You're welcome | De nada | Con mucho gusto |
| Sorry / excuse me | Perdón | ¡Qué pena! not "what a shame" — it's the everyday apology |
| Right away | Enseguida | Ya mismo / ahorita |
What changes when you set your variety to Colombian
- Usted with everyone — In Bogotá and much of the interior, usted is used with friends, partners and children. Tú can sound distant or foreign — the grader knows the difference.
- Courtesy formulas — a la orden, con mucho gusto, qué pena, me regala — the small phrases that mark you as someone who has actually lived there.
- Vocabulary — tinto, parce, bacano, chévere, plata, chino (a kid), lucas (pesos) — and Spain-only words like vale or coche get marked as foreign.
- Diminutives and softeners — ahoritica, un momentico — the -ico ending is a Colombian fingerprint, and the grader rewards it where it belongs.
How RateMySpanish trains your Colombian Spanish ear
Graded against the local version
Translate a real sentence and get an instant 1–10 rating. The grader is set to Colombian Spanish, so correct-but-foreign phrasing loses points and you see exactly why.
See how a local would say it
One tap rewrites any sentence the way someone from there would actually put it — Colombian Spanish vocabulary, register and rhythm, not a neutral translation.
Sentences at your level, not a beginner's
Set B2, C1 or C2 and every prompt demands nuance — idiom, register, subjunctive — instead of ordering a coffee for the hundredth time.
A two-minute daily habit
Turn on the daily challenge email and get one sentence every morning. Sounding local is a hundred small corrections, not one big lesson.
Common questions
I'm already fluent. What does this add?
Fluent and local are different things. Most advanced learners write Spanish that is grammatically clean but placeless — every native speaker can tell. RateMySpanish grades each sentence against how it would be said in Colombian Spanish and shows you the local phrasing, so you close that gap one sentence at a time.
Is this Bogotá Spanish or paisa Spanish?
The grader targets general Colombian Spanish — what works across Bogotá, Medellín and Cali, and on Colombian TV. It leans on the courtesy and usted patterns of the interior and tells you when a phrase is regional or very informal.
Can I switch varieties later?
Yes — the Spanish variety is a setting you can change anytime (Mexican, Colombian, Rioplatense, Castilian, Chilean, Central American, or neutral Latin American). Your history and focus areas stay with you.
How much does it cost?
The free plan includes 10 graded sentences a day, every day. Paid plans raise or remove the cap. No credit card to start.
Learning a different variety?
Write Spanish a Colombian would claim as their own
Ten graded sentences a day, each one held to the local standard. Your first takes under a minute.